And another popular Linux distribution pushes a new release out the door. This time around, it's openSUSE, as they just released version 12.1. Other than the usual latest and greatest version of all the open source desktops and associated tools, there's a few other interesting tidbits in this release as well.

uhm, as you read I have tried to install on different branded desktops, custom built desktops, laptops, netbooks and there is always some sort of hardware that isn't supported (Wifi, tv-card, raid, sound) while there are always drivers available for Windows that work just fine. An OS should support hardware, hardware shouldn't support an OS. Especially on Linux it seems that all drivers are in the kernel, that every distribution uses those some kernels....and still people (in this thread) say that in distribution X their Wifi worked and in distribution Y it doesn't.

I liked Corel Linux a lot back in the days, but sticking with it didn't work (it died). Puppy is the only distribution that I use once in a while for recovery work where "all drivers working" isn't important. But even for that I prefer Hiren, BartPE or WinPE.

Not hard to find compatible hardware either.
When you consider most recent kernels support masses of hardware out of the box without having to obtain drivers separately it's also a plus. I just wish the quality of the wireless drivers were a little better.

Maybe if you're building a desktop PC for Linux, but I don't think that's true if you're looking for a laptop. There are a couple of distributions tailored for specific netbooks, but apart from that it can be very hard to determine whether a particular laptop will be fully supported.

By fully supported I don't just mean Linux installing and booting to the desktop (which is all that some people seem to do before declaring a laptop "Linux compatible"). I mean things like the special buttons and pointing devices features (trackpoint scrolling, trackpad gestures etc.) working properly, and most important of all fully functioning power management.

I'm amazed at how many Linux users see broken sleep/hibernate and significantly reduced battery life as minor little annoyances that aren't worth mentioning...